Gonchar is heading on the downside of his career. He turns 34 in April and this injury isn't going to be an easy one to come back from. His stickhandling and shot are going to be the most affected by the injury. If someone wants to give Gonchar $5m for 3 years, then we can't afford him. Most GMs aren't going to pay big money to a 34 year old D man coming off a big surgery...maybe Tampa Bay

Bob McKenzie wrote:I'd keep Letang and Gogo at all costs at this point.

It'll be interesting to see how Whitney performs after his surgery.

Gonchar is heading on the downside of his career. He turns 34 in April and this injury isn't going to be an easy one to come back from. His stickhandling and shot are going to be the most affected by the injury. If someone wants to give Gonchar $5m for 3 years, then we can't afford him. Most GMs aren't going to pay big money to a 34 year old D man coming off a big surgery...maybe Tampa Bay

I'd be shocked if Gonchar gets less than $6M and isn't sought after by any team who has cap space.

Bob McKenzie wrote:I'd keep Letang and Gogo at all costs at this point.

It'll be interesting to see how Whitney performs after his surgery.

Gonchar is heading on the downside of his career. He turns 34 in April and this injury isn't going to be an easy one to come back from. His stickhandling and shot are going to be the most affected by the injury. If someone wants to give Gonchar $5m for 3 years, then we can't afford him. Most GMs aren't going to pay big money to a 34 year old D man coming off a big surgery...maybe Tampa Bay

I'd be shocked if Gonchar gets less than $6M and isn't sought after by any team who has cap space.

Depends on various factors. I think one of the major ones is whether or not the salary cap goes up. The economy issues may come in handy for one thing.

Bob McKenzie wrote:I'd keep Letang and Gogo at all costs at this point.

It'll be interesting to see how Whitney performs after his surgery.

Gonchar is heading on the downside of his career. He turns 34 in April and this injury isn't going to be an easy one to come back from. His stickhandling and shot are going to be the most affected by the injury. If someone wants to give Gonchar $5m for 3 years, then we can't afford him. Most GMs aren't going to pay big money to a 34 year old D man coming off a big surgery...maybe Tampa Bay

I'd be shocked if Gonchar gets less than $6M and isn't sought after by any team who has cap space.

Depends on various factors. I think one of the major ones is whether or not the salary cap goes up. The economy issues may come in handy for one thing.

That doesn't really help. If his salary remains lower because the cap remains lower, is anything gained?

The Pens will have far more money added to the cap than what is coming off. Malkin's going from a ~$3.8 million hit to $8.7 million. Letang and Goligoski will likely be getting locked up this summer. Just look around the league to see the precedent for those kinds of players. Talbot will be getting a new deal. Staal, assuming he stays, will be getting a new deal. The Pens already approached the cap this year. Things are really going to start getting tight in the coming years. Gonchar is a luxury they're not going to be able to afford past his current deal. They need his salary off the books just to help account for the raises the young players are getting. The Pens have been lucky in that many of their prominent players were young guys getting paid way less than the contributions they brought. In the very near future, that's not going to be the case. They're going to get paid legitimate money. Some already are.

Henry Hank wrote:The Pens will have far more money added to the cap than what is coming off. Malkin's going from a ~$3.8 million hit to $8.7 million. Letang and Goligoski will likely be getting locked up this summer. Just look around the league to see the precedent for those kinds of players. Talbot will be getting a new deal. Staal, assuming he stays, will be getting a new deal. The Pens already approached the cap this year. Things are really going to start getting tight in the coming years. Gonchar is a luxury they're not going to be able to afford past his current deal. They need his salary off the books just to help account for the raises the young players are getting. The Pens have been lucky in that many of their prominent players were young guys getting paid way less than the contributions they brought. In the very near future, that's not going to be the case. They're going to get paid legitimate money. Some already are.

Letang still has another year on his RFA contract, so even if he gets locked up, it won't go up until 2010.

Henry Hank wrote:The Pens will have far more money added to the cap than what is coming off. Malkin's going from a ~$3.8 million hit to $8.7 million. Letang and Goligoski will likely be getting locked up this summer. Just look around the league to see the precedent for those kinds of players. Talbot will be getting a new deal. Staal, assuming he stays, will be getting a new deal. The Pens already approached the cap this year. Things are really going to start getting tight in the coming years. Gonchar is a luxury they're not going to be able to afford past his current deal. They need his salary off the books just to help account for the raises the young players are getting. The Pens have been lucky in that many of their prominent players were young guys getting paid way less than the contributions they brought. In the very near future, that's not going to be the case. They're going to get paid legitimate money. Some already are.

Letang still has another year on his RFA contract, so even if he gets locked up, it won't go up until 2010.

I don't think the Pens will need a scoring line center anytime soon though

There are still a lot of variables though. . .

if I'm Shero, the only ones coming off a contract in 2010 would be Gonchar and Cooke. Letang would be locked to get a pay increase to Orpik/Whitney numbers. There wouldn't really be any need to pursue any high profile free agents, so keeping Gonchar would really just depend on what he's worth that summer and how much the cap goes up.